Monday 22 March 2010

Update - Life, Weightloss and Training

Hello!!

If anyone is actually still reading this blog can I just say sorry for my absence and thank you so much for your patience!

I'm totally stressed out right now and not managing to fit everything in... family, training, work and studying have to come first - in that order, so blogging has been pushed back and my social life has taken a nosedive!

The house-buying is still an ongoing saga... we're still in the running for it has just been revealed that the rather less-than-proactive owner of the property didn't get himself a Home Information Pack (HIP)!!!

Last we've heard is that he's in the process of belatedly acquiring one.

*sigh*

As annoying and frustrating this is, if everything goes well and it all goes ahead, this stalling might have been a bit of a Godsend as we simply cannot rent out Joe's house at the mo because we have no kitchen floor surface!!

To complicate our home matters further massive destructive damp has recently been discovered... our washing machine had been leaking over the years and the water had permeated through the entire kitchen, breakfast room and even out into the hall!

So we are missing floor tiles, have a big hole in the hallway and some floorboards missing - PLUS 3 noisy ugly dehumidifiers chugging away, joy!

Still, fortunately we have house insurance and the good news is that we'll get a shiny new floor that the next inhabitants of this place can enjoy :-)

It's just a bit annoying right now as everything's in boxes and it looks hideous!

Okay, so onto other annoyances of the past few months (I promise it gets more positive later ;-) )

Here we go, here's something now, what what do you think of my Maxitone Hoodie?!



I love it! It's so super warm and snug and such a great cut and fit, plus I LOVE the colour, purple is my favourite so this just fits the bill entirely :-)

I've been trying to be rather more restrained with my spending lately so haven't made any big purchases lately but did buy this new toy...



Sexy huh? ;-)

It does make awesome smoothies and soups and is helpful for things like homemade houmous!

I also think I've been very well restrained given the 3 awesome new shops that have opened up near my work:



North Face, Cycle Surgery AND Run and Become?!! That's just too much temptation in such a small area!

I went in North Face... I just bought a hat



I can't believe that's all I bought, I'm quite pleased with my willpower, I wanted to buy a LOT more!!

I also can't believe it but I missed my anniversary! I started this blog on 16th Feb 2009 and it has just been the best thing ever in terms of keeping me focused and helping me gain confidence in my own abilities. So a big thanks again to everyone who takes the time to read it :-) x

Training and Weightloss

A couple of weeks ago I took some pics, which I have to say I hated, big time... but then what good would 'before' pics be if they didn't look rubbish eh? (that's what I'm telling myself anyway heh)

I weighed 11 stone (154lbs) on Saturday 13th March and that upset me a lot. However, I've really gone back to basics and overhauled my diet and I'm pleased to report that I lost 6lbs last week!!

That was such a huge confidence booster, and it was really needed and appreciated as I was feeling a little low because quite a few of the girls from the Maxitone Body of 2009 have been asked to attend photoshoots for pictures for the new catalogues... but I haven't :'-(

Stings a bit, knocked my confidence somewhat, and made me feel a bit low. But then I thought I'd take the disappointment and channel it into something positive, like motivation to do even better and show them what they're missing, probably sounds silly huh? Worked for me though, you can't make everyone like you no matter how hard you try, but for every rejection there'll be a countering force... or so I like to think :-)

I guess I shouldn't be entirely surprised, I didn't like many of the shots at all - so how could I expect anyone else to? Plus I don't think I look myself in them either, the hair was a stupid idea, I never even so much as blow-dry mine! I just *don't* look like that when I'm exercising...

Here! This is me the other day post-workout in my local gym having just sweated my arse off but feeling that wonderful calmness that hard work brings :-)



Not very glamorous huh? In fact I look a bit minging, but then I like what exercising does to my body and I don't work out for anyone else but me :-)

Anyway, enough of that, the main reason I was so surprised and pleased for the huge weight loss was that I'd been eating so much during the week, in terms of meals and frequency - though obviously not hugely in the way of calories! - and I never felt hungry, or like I was being deprived, and I couldn't believe that I'd managed to lose so much!

It means so much for someone like me who has spent so many years depriving her body of food and nutrients in order to lose weight to instead be able to so effectively in such a positive fashion.

Don't get me wrong, my eating and healthy regime has definitely not taken a backslide, and the eating disorder demons are well and truly destroyed, but I have been eating and drinking a little too much and I haven't been thinking carefully about the purpose of the fuel that I've been putting in my body, where it's going, what its goal is etc... it's just been food, which is *absolutely* fine if you just want to be normal and healthy... but if you want to sculpt your body into something worthy of taking to the stage then you do need to pay more attention to the nutrients which enter your body and make sure they're going towards the right things... it's all a bit geeky, which is just as well as I've never professed to being anything else :-)

I don't for one second envisage such a large weight loss occurring this week but if I could lose a pound or two a week between now and FAME then I'd be super chuffed :-)

So, how have I been doing it?

Well I'm currently on about 1500 Cals a day. I did try to limit to 1100 but that just made me miserable and didn't fit in with my plan to eat at least 5 meals a day!

My Protein/Carbohydrate/Fat percentages are set to 40/40/20 respectively (although at the moment I'm managing closer to a 40/30/30 split. I guess it will take a while before I find something I'm happy with and a lot depends on my level of activity, i.e. if it's high in terms of cardio I'll up my Carbohydrate intake provide the energy I need, and if it's Weights-heavy I'll take on extra Protein before and (mainly) after my session.

I aim to consume about 150g protein a day, I really think it's helping loads :-)

I'm doing a lot of my strength work in the evenings, after dinner - which is good as I have the energy that comes from eating so many meals through the day to help me lift. When I come back from the gym I'm having a Maxitone Definity (banana) shake which suits me perfectly as it's only 120 Cals but a huge 24.3g of Protein to go straight to work rebuilding my muscles to a higher spec ;-)

Generally a day's worth of food for me goes like this:

07:00 - Maxitone Sculptress shake or bar
10:00 - snack (e.g. cottage cheese, apple and cheese, almonds)
13:00 - lunch (e.g. chicken breast, salad, quinoa)
16:00 - snack (e.g. tuna, Definity Crisp or Promax Crisp bar)
19:00 - dinner (e.g. hot chilli and brown basmati rice, mixed veg and turkey stir-fry)
22:00 - Maxitone Definity shake

The small meals have worked so well... my blood sugar levels have remained steady, I've experienced no highs and lows in the day, no afternoon slump, and the regular intake of food as guaranteed that my metabolism stays constantly fired up as my body is working more frequently to process the food I'm taking in.

The planning and execution of all this is only made possible by the fabulous Weightloss Resources, honestly I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have their fab tools and the forum is a great place to visit too... although unfortunately I never seem to have the time to do it :-(

Still, I'm able to keep track of everything that passes my lips and that is a big help to me. Obviously, my eating has become a lot more prescriptive but I need to have structure or I'm not going to stand a chance in the FAME competition and I'm just going to end up making a tit out myself!

I'm not going to post my bikini pics just yet, I don't have much of a comparison to be fair, but I will next time I take some just so you can see (hopefully!) how much progress I've made!

In the meantime however I will bore you to pieces with pictures of my upper half - ha!:

Here is the only bikini shot I'll let you see, I quite like it :-)



And this is me last Friday having just done worked my arms and also put in some bloody good core work too - trembly abs, love it! :-D




I really love my shoulders and how it's all coming together, it's the most rewarding thing in the world to see evidence of hard work in photo-form - my arms have NEVER looked this good before

*BEAMS*

Work Gym

I am probably one of the most fortunate people in terms of access to fitness facilities as I have a local gym less than 5 mins walk away and also a small one in my building at work!

Recently it was refurbished (and by that I just mean the equipment was replaced! ;-) ) and we've got some pretty cool stuff!

Fortunately they've left the free weights so I'm chuffed with that but we've got two treadmills, two elliptical trainers, two stationary bikes (all from LifeFitness) and a Concept 2 Rower also!

Because I feel so grateful for all this I decided to give something back and offered to help out with gym inductions for everyone who wanted to become a member of our work gym as the membership system and payment (£20 for six months... hardly breaking the bank!) has changed.

Unfortunately the fella from LifeFitness who was supposed to be showing us the equipment in detail had had an accident and, although okay, was unable to attend the training day. So facilities drafted in this poor lad from the shop salesfloor! He did alright though and to be honest most of the machines - with the exception of the multi-gym - are pretty self-explanatory.

I put together a gym induction programme (as it was the only way for me to remember everything as we'd had no guidance!) and I've got some really good feedback from other people who had offered to induct people too, saying that they've printed it off and are using it themselves - woot!

I must admit, when I offered to help out with the gym I was quite scared at the thought of making a prat out myself in front of people from the building whom I might bump into again at some point!

However, it's the weirdest thing... when in the gym I feel so comfortable and familiar with everything that I wasn't nervous at all, in fact able to crack a few jokes with some people!

This has been amazing for me as I'm not good in public situations, I go red if I have to talk in meetings - and I don't just mean a gentle flushing of the cheeks, my entire face goes beet!!

So yes, anyway that's been really positive for me and I've asked people to contact me if they need any more help or a few exercise ideas and pointers, I'm so keen to get Victoria fit!! There are few things that give me greater pleasure than seeing people taking such positive steps towards their long term health and, ultimately, happiness!

Another awesome thing to come out of my work (God I love my company so much!!) is that one of our lovely occupation health people has organised two activities - the first being a 'Fit Club', based on a sort of 'Biggest Loser' (don't worry Jillian Michaels, this won't be televised, there's only a handful of people, the franchise is safe!)/Celebrity Fit Club style...

I'm not in that club but I hear that people are doing very well and losing lots of lbs so that's great news indeed!

Also, our occupational health therapist has organised Boxercise classes!!!

This is super super exciting for me as I *love* boxing (well, the training anyway!) and in fact we (Joe, my son and I) used to go to a boxing gym nearby which was run by Clinton McKenzie in a studio above a pub in Herne Hill, SE London.

We all loved it, but it was so expensive, about £70 or more a month. The one-on-one training with the focus pads was great but we just couldn't justify the expense so had to stop :-(

Joe's actually just bought some new focus pads from a shop in his hometown of Brentwood in Essex... there's a really great shop where he got my boxing gloves from 2 Christmasses ago.

They're gorgeous, pink and lovely, as are my wraps, I adore them! I'll have to take a picture but Joe's asleep upstairs as I type this and don't want to wake him

Here are the focus pads though, cool huh?



They're proper leather and sturdy as hell which is just as well as my son packs a mighty punch!

So anyway, onto the Boxercise classes.

They're with a lovely chap called Sam Rosser who works for a company called Amor Lifestyle Coaching and are based in Hertfordshire.

Sam's great, he's got the right mix of enthusiasm and slight sadism we all need to get us into shape. He also looks the part (lean and athletic) which is very important to me as I don't think I'd take a trainer seriously if they were bellowing at me with a big wobbly belly hanging over their jeans. Sorry.

The first class was the most fun ever and I was soooo worried that the second class would be a letdown as you know when you build something up in your mind you set yourself up for a fall huh?

The second class was even more fun than the first (helped by the fact that the girl I was paired with didn't quite have the same look of abject terror that the lady had the week before, poor thing, I'm sure I don't hit *that* hard!!)

Last week was challenging as it was in a small room (we have room issues in our buildings, they're always bloody booked out when you want them!!) and Sam increased things like the volume of strength work we were doing... I think I did nearly 40 full press-ups in total (obviously not all at once!!) as he had us doing sets of tens and then the odd one or two thrown in for good measure!

I did find it alarming how many men couldn't do full press-ups... and of the men who did some looked more like they were humping the floor... it just seems wrong to me to be able to do it better than them!!

Saying that, not sure how I'll cope tomorrow as my chest is feeling a little sore as I was working my shoulders yesterday in the gym (NOT going to do it the day before Boxercise like last week, that was a mistake, I was knackered!) and threw in some chest work as the Max Rack was free.. ahh well, we'll see!

In any case, I'm having a fab time and I just love all the team/paired activities, it's so great to meet new sporty people who otherwise I just wouldn't talk to, I'd have no reason to, our business is so diverse everyone is doing everything else!!


Climbing

Soooo, finally got my arse back to the Castle Climbing Centre. I don't think I've been back since my last post about it back in October!!

How dreadful is that? :-(

Anyway, went and had a fab time. Was pleased that my new upper body strength came in useful although I *know* you're not meant to use it when climbing really, it should be a combined effort... but I was lame as I hadn't been for ages and I needed my strength to help me along!

I took some pics while sat on a mat stretching as Joe was going up one of the high walls but as I've mentioned before my bloody phone pics have been overwritten on my palm pre (I think the latest software update was a bit dodge although it did give me the capacity to film videos, which is great if, like me, you've got a daft cat who likes to chase her own tail - hours of fun!! ;-) )

The only pic not overwritten was this of Jane from work:



Can't wait to go back :-) Will have to take an actual camera next time!

Spinning

I went tonight, it was so hard, so hot... I felt wasted, I almost vomited!

That might have been because I'd just wolfed down dinner:



salmon and some veg I sliced up and threw in a wok with some oil, garlic and soy sauce - delish if I do say so myself!!

Netball

As mentioned in my last post, this is on hold until ankle strengthens enough that it stops hurting when I move it... I'm thinking of making a tentative return to training sometime soon but I'll be sure to either cycle or walk to training instead of running there and back like before!

I need to be careful though as the twisting and leaping around that is involved in netball (which makes it sooooo much fun!!) really aggravated my ankle in the first place, boo :-(

Running

As above, high impact stuff is a no-no - fortunately there those wonderful things called elliptical/cross trainers which stop me going nuts - hurrah!!

Rowing

See running and netball - unfortunately the movement of the ankle joint when sliding out and in is super detrimental to my joint.

Watch when I come back better and stronger though ;-)

Competitions/Race

I really think that to keep my motivation levels high I need to put myself forward for things that will take me out of my comfort zone and challenge me to make a difference. I don't want to slide back into normality just yet, I like having goals to focus on :-)

Maxitone Body of 2010

Okay so I'm obviously going to enter this - it's a given!

What's also probably a given is the fact that I won't so much as make the finals because the competition will be too intense. Maxitone is really going to take off in a huge way and, as it works, the number of gorgeous buff women who will enter will probably be vastly different to last year's entry!

ultra-FIT Magazine Cover Model Search

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I really like ultra-FIT magazine. I was a bit unsure at the beginning of last year but it started to really impress and I've been a subscriber for a little while now.

Recently I saw they were holding a Cover Model Search competition which has some pretty awesome prizes so I'm going to enter it!

Entries close on May 17th (although I'm sure it was the week after when I first noticed it!)

FAME UK

This deserves a post of its own so I'm going to write one up soon hopefully :-)

There are so many other things I'd like to do, just this year in fact, like the Three Peaks which a friend is meant to be organising - we'll see!

Would also love to do triathlon again... so many things to work towards, so little time!!

Watch this space!

Oh, and if you've got this far, thanks for reading!!

TJx

13 comments:

  1. great post! loved all the pics. you can do it, show them what they are missing ;)

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  2. OMG!!! You have a gym 5 mins walk from your place AND at your work?!...I'm insanely jeolous - LOL!

    Keep up the great work!

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  3. Thanks Christie, I'm trying to keep positive about everything and use it as motivation instead of brooding and sulking about the matter (like I would have done in the past!)

    Yes Leisl I'm really lucky I know, and so grateful too, but then I live and work in London and there are gyms *everywhere*!! Seriously there are like 3 within a couple of minutes walk of my offices!

    Means I have no excuse to hit the gym... though looking forward to rest day tomorrow after hard boxercise class today... my hands were so shaky afterwards from the exertion, could hardly type!!

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  4. I already told you but I think you look absolutely incredible. Hope you don't mind but I linked one of your pics on my blog :)

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  5. Thanks guys!

    And yeah, I was really surprised having clicked on the facebook link to see my pic on your site!! Thanks for linking to it, means a lot, I was so proud I just had to show my boyfriend! :-) x

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  6. Amazing piccies! And amazing attitude too!! Keep at it!!

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  7. Wow Fabby long post - loved it.
    I tell my trainer about you & JAG & Gym Ninja & Rachel N - my favourite bloggers. You guys motivate & inspire me so much.

    I laughed out loud at the men who struggle to do man press ups - not because I think that is funny but can totally relate to being able to do man press ups better than a man :-)

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  8. You are inspirational the way you can fit so much into your life!! have loads of things to say in this comment, o for bullet points!
    -love the hoodie alright-purple is one of my favourites too. My manager also likes it too so sometimes it looks like there's a purple dress code in the office and then 2 other people in the office might walk in wearing purple to add to the effect! I've decided to branch out to blue for a while now to avoid such instances..
    -Your photos look amazing, you are sculpting yourself good-o!
    -I don't normally eat much fish but that salmon dish looks superb. We do love our colourful food don't we?
    -Buying a house is so painful and stressful. I chickened out of the real stress by buying a new build that was still being finished when we decided to buy. It will be nice that you will be able to put your own stamp on the house when you get into it.
    -I have a similar blender/food processor thingy and it gets great use. Ideally I'd love something I could leave out on my counter but until I get a New Kitchen (some years down the line) the mini version will have to do..

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  9. Wow Tara you look amazing! Good job! You've made me want to get back in the gym!

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  10. Fudgey that's really sweet that you tell your trainer about us!

    and yeah, us women who can do 'man' press-ups rock! They really are great for filling out that flabby bit between your armpit and chest, are incline flyes..! xx

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  11. diese I love how you can write as much I do!

    blue is my second favourite colour, but more pale dusky blue than baby or royal blue ;-)
    Next there's black but that's just because it hides a multitude of sins! my new year resolution last year was to wear more red, which I think I did manage quite well... you can't help but feel confident in red - just ask the Special K girl!! ;-)

    re house, yeah, uber stressy but posted off the signed contract forms yesterday so hopefully not too long to exchange... though just found out today that some dude wanted to rent *just* the cellar off the owner - WTF? We're planning to stick bikes and wine down there as that's about all that will fit... you can't even stand up in it! :-S

    I'm with you on the leave on the counter jobby but our kitchen is sooo teeny at the mo there's not enough room for much more than a spice rack! I dream of a big kitchen littered with chrome appliances!! ;-) xx

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  12. Stella thanks that's such a lovely thing to say!

    I'm loving that my work gym is now open again with new fun stuff to play with... had an excellent weights session earlier and killed it on the elliptical the other day :-) xx

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